Turnabout is fair play as Railers steal two points from Maine

Less than 24 hours after choking away a two-goal lead the Worcester Railers were outplayed in every single aspect of their Sunday afternoon matinee in Portland, Maine against the Mariners except the most important one: the scoreboard. Anthony Callin scored his first two pro goals and Henrik Tikkanen saved 48 of 50 Maine shots to lead Worcester to a 3-2 victory.

The Railers didn’t exactly come out of the gate firing on all cylinders as Worcester didn’t get their first shot on goal until there was 8:45 in the opening period, and it was nothing more than a dribbler on the Maine net that Mariners’ netminder François Brassard saved easily. Maine ended up outshooting the Railers 18-4 in the frame.

Early in the second period Jacob Hayhurst was called for a crosschecking minor, the third time in the game Worcester was shorthanded. While they killed the first two the Railers’ penalty kill faltered the third time when Grant Gabriele put a rebound past Worcester netminder Henrik Tikkanen at 3:53.

With the shot total continuing to pile up for the Mariners and Worcester hardly getting any chances the Railers grabbed their first power play opportunity in the game, and Anthony Callin picked a good time to pick up his first pro goal.

The goal came on his first shot with Worcester, and he joined Bo Brauer as the only Railers players to score on their first shot with Worcester after joining the team midseason.

Seventeen seconds later Andrei Bakanov made it a 2-1 lead for the Railers.

Just a couple minutes later Callin joined Brauer as the only Railers players to score on their first two shots with Worcester after joining the team midseason.

Alas, Callin’s third shot did not go in. No Worcester pro player has scored on his first three shots with the team at any point in the season.

Worcester’s two-goal lead lasted 45 seconds into the third period when Alex Kile took a cross-ice feed and skated by all five flatfooted Railers players, tucking the puck under Tikkanen and just over the goal line.

From there it was a shooting gallery, with Tikkanen making save after save until finally, the final horn sounded.

GAME NOTES
Scratches for the Railers were Bobby Butler, Noah Delmas, Christain Evers (IR/unknown), Max Johnson, Connor McCarthy (bereavement), Jack Quinlivan (IR/unknown), Anthony Repaci (bereavement), and Quin Ryan (IR/unknown). Ken Appleby was the backup goaltender.

There was a scary moment with 5:40 remaining in the second period when a pane of glass in the Maine end was knocked over and fell into the crowd after a hit from Fedor Gordeev against Andrei Bakanov. Both team trainers raced into the corner and jumped through the opening in the glass to tend to any fan that may have been injured, but it seems no one was worse for wear. After a delay of about five minutes to replace the pane of glass, the game resumed.

A sponsor of both the Railers and Mariners, VIP Tires & Service, has a challenge cup that goes to the winner of the series between the two teams. Worcester won last season, and when they tried to give the trophy to then captain Jordan Smotherman, he wanted no part in touching it, posing for a picture next to the presenter and skating off. This year Maine was the winner, and while they looked less than thrilled about it they posed as a team at the presentation. Of course, none of them wanted any piece of it either.

The three stars of the game were
1. WOR – 39 Henrik Tikkanen
2. WOR – 17 Anthony Callin
3. MNE – 23 Alex Kile

The 210Sports Player of the Game was Adam Goodsir.

Even Strength Lines
Goodsir / Beaudoin / Bakanov
Hayhurst / Jerry / Fea
Vesey / Coughlin / Callin
Bross / X / Ordoobadi

Brandt / McGurty
Cosgrove / Beaulieu
Victor / Breen

BOX SCORE
Worcester 0 3 0 – 3
Maine 0 1 1 – 2

1st Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Bross Wor (boarding), 1:52; Victor Wor (tripping), 19:24.

2nd Period-1, Maine, Gabriele 7 (Kile, Gordeev), 3:35 (PP). 2, Worcester, Callin 1 (Vesey, Hayhurst), 8:59 (PP). 3, Worcester, Bakanov 4 9:16. 4, Worcester, Callin 2 (Goodsir, Beaudoin), 11:20. Penalties-Hayhurst Wor (cross-checking), 1:55; Goodsir Wor (delay of game), 5:32; Gordeev Mne (interference), 8:08.

3rd Period-5, Maine, Kile 13 (Voyer, Duquette), 0:45. Penalties-Zieky Mne (bench – too many men), 9:36; Victor Wor (misconduct), 12:21; Beaudoin Wor (slashing), 14:38.

Shots on Goal-Worcester 4-13-2-19. Maine 18-15-17-50.
Power Play Opportunities-Worcester 1 / 2; Maine 1 / 5.
Goalies-Worcester, Tikkanen 17-14-2-0 (50 shots-48 saves). Maine, Brassard 13-12-1-0 (17 shots-14 saves); DiPietro 14-7-0-0 (2 shots-2 saves).
A-4,622
Referees-Casey Terreri (14), Rocco Stachowiak (28).
Linesmen-Ryan Bradshaw (76), Matthew Heinen (93).

—
Got something you loved (or hated) about the post? Head on over to the 210Sports Facebook page and leave a comment. You could comment on this post too, but fair warning, the spam filter catches lots of stuff it shouldn’t and it might be weeks before we see your comment. While you’re there, give the page a like if you could.

-30-